Chapter 3 - ELENA’S LOCKED TRUNK
Maya led police to the staff cottage.
Elena’s room had remained untouched since her death.
Arthur had offered to renovate it.
Maya refused.
She said Noah still needed the room to smell like their mother.
A narrow bed stood beneath the window.
A work uniform hung behind the door.
On the dresser was a photograph of Elena with Maya and Noah at the county fair.
Arthur appeared in the background.
He had been unaware the picture existed.
Maya knelt beside the bed and removed a loose floorboard.
Beneath it was a brass key.
“My mother said this opened the trunk.”
The trunk sat inside the closet.
It was old, black, and covered with scratches.
The key turned halfway.
Then stopped.
Noah reached under the collar of his shirt.
A second key hung from a cord around his neck.
“Mom gave me this one.”
The two keys worked together.
Inside were property files, photographs, bank statements, and a handwritten notebook.
Detective Collins opened the first folder.
The original deed showed Blackwood Manor belonged to the Blackwood Heritage Trust.
A second deed transferred the property to Vale Legacy Holdings.
Arthur’s signature appeared at the bottom.
He had never signed it.
The notary was Gideon Vale.
The transfer date was nine months earlier.
Three months before Elena’s death.
Another document transferred voting control of Blackwood Hotels to Victoria in the event Arthur became medically incapacitated.
Again, his signature appeared.
Again, it was false.
Arthur looked at his wife.
She stood outside the cottage beside two officers.
Her attorneys had advised her not to enter.
“She was trying to take everything.”
Maya opened the notebook.
Elena documented dates.
Visitors.
Conversations overheard while cleaning offices.
She recorded that Gideon visited Victoria after midnight.
That Arthur’s wine was sometimes replaced before flights.
That medical forms appeared with signatures Arthur could not remember giving.
One entry was underlined three times.
Mrs. Victoria asked Dr. Hale how long confusion could be blamed on stress.
Dr. Marcus Hale was Arthur’s personal physician.
He was also Victoria’s cousin.
Arthur remembered several episodes after business trips.
Headaches.
Missing hours.
Conversations he could not recall.
Victoria told him exhaustion and jet lag were responsible.
Elena’s notebook suggested something else.
The final entry was written the night before her death.
I copied everything.
Victoria knows.
If anything happens, the children must not stay alone in the cottage.
The page ended with one more line.
Arthur must check the greenhouse camera.
The greenhouse stood beyond the eastern garden.
Victoria used it for private charity meetings.
Arthur rarely entered.
The police searched it.
Inside a storage cabinet, they found an old security recorder.
The hard drive had been removed.
But behind the recorder was a bloodstained piece of Elena’s uniform.
Maya began crying.
Noah turned toward the door.
Arthur placed one hand on his shoulder.
The boy did not pull away.
Detective Collins received a call from the forensic unit.
Elena’s car had been preserved at an insurance storage yard.
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A new inspection found the brake line had been cut.
Her death was no accident.
